The Couch Potato Report - October 18th, 2008
This week The Couch Potato Report peels some young people...hugging, and the late great Misters Orson Welles and Paul Newman.
The title of this week's main new release, our Hot Potato - is one that I can't say on the radio...if I want to keep my job.
Actually, I can say two of the words in the title...I just can't say the third one.
Those first two are YOUNG and PEOPLE...and for the third word, let me just use the word HUGGING...I can say that and still keep my job...right?!?
Okay...so, the film, for my selfish keep my job purposes, is called YOUNG PEOPLE HUGGING...but imagine the most intense, passionate, pleasureable type of HUGGING that you can think of, and that is what this film offers...or, wants to offer!
Let me back up a bit, when I first heard last year at the Toronto International Film Festival that there was a Canadian film coming out that was called YOUNG PEOPLE HUGGING, I knew right then and there that it would not be very good.
And I don't mean not very good because it was a Canadian film, I mean it because of the title.
If the filmmakers had a better and more interesting movie on their hands, they would have given it a better name...instead, they have to rely on a cheap publicity stunt - putting an expletive word in the title, the word I am replacing with HUGGING this morning - using that expletive in the title just so their film would get some attention.
For that, I will just say, they should have gone back to the beginning and written a better film.
Sadly, they didn't.
YOUNG PEOPLE HUGGING wants to be a smart and fast-paced comedy...it isn't.
It is - however - a movie that intertwines the stories of five couples over the course of one evening as these YOUNG PEOPLE attempt to do what birds do, and what bees do...heck, even educated fleas do it.
YOUNG PEOPLE HUGGING is full of attractive people, but boring characters, and an utterly predictable and bad script...and the filmmakers - even though they probably will never admit it until their dying breath - know this, which is why they gave it the title they have.
Look...I am usually happy to state that Canadian made films should at least be seen and supported....but not in this case.
Stay away from YOUNG PEOPLE HUGGING, it just isn't worthy of your time.
Up next are four films that are all worthy of your time, and you might even enjoy watching them with someone to hug sitting beside you.
Let start with the 50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION of Orson Welles' classic film TOUCH OF EVIL
I am not sure that I have mentioned this before, but I am a HUGE fan of Orson Welles and his films and work. I could talk for hours about him...but I won't. I will just speak for a couple of minutes.
TOUCH OF EVIL stars Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh and Welles and it takes place in a U.S./Mexico border town.
Heston is a high ranking Mexican narcotics official on honeymoon with his bride who is drawn into a murder investigation.
Welles is the 330 pound sheriff who run sthe town, and he isn't all too happy to have Heston in the way.
TOUCH OF EVIL has always been a misunderstood film as the version that played in theatres wasn't Welles' version. The studio didn't like the film he gave them, so they re-shot some scenes with another director and released their version, which was a few scenes less than coherant.
Welles countered by writing a 58-page memo to the studio on how they could make it better, which went largely ignored.
In the 1970s a longer version was discovered in the studio's vault, and that was also released in theatres, but it stil wasn't Welles' film.
Then, in 1998 the film was restored in a version that attempted to follow Welles's 1958 memo as closely as possible.
And now all three versions are available in the TOUCH OF EVIL - 50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION, along with a copy of Welles' memo.
In 1993, Touch of Evil was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and the film was placed #64 on American Film Institute's 100 Years, 100 Thrills...and I could go on and on about it, but I will stop now....after 11 more words.
It is a classic, I recommend it...see it, and enjoy!!
I also recommend our next movie, the semi-historical film MONGOL about the young Genghis Khan and how events in his early life lead him to become a legendary conqueror.
MONGOL is the first in what is planned to be a trilogy about Genghis Khan's life and it was nominated for the 2007 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film as a submission from Kazakhstan.
MONGOL features epic battles with graphic violence and action scenes, a great unknown cast, and an interesting story.
If all that sounds interesting to you, don't miss this film!!
If none of that appeals to you...how about a Paul Newman movie?
When Paul Newman died on September 26th, I said on this show that I wasn't going to eulogize him, instead, his work should speak for itself.
This week the DVD's COOL HAND LUKE and THE PRICE OF SUGAR allow that work to do that.
The DELUXE EDITION of COOL HAND LUKE allows this always interesting film about a man in prison who refuses to conform to the system to look and sound better than it has in years.
It also has a nice 30 minute retrospective look back...but unfortunately it doesn't feature any new interviews with the screen icon.
But the film still, and will always stand on it's own. It is a great movie!
The documentary THE PRICE OF SUGAR that Newman narrates isn't what I would call great, but it is very insightful and illuminating.
THE PRICE OF SUGAR focusses on the exploitation of Haitian immigrants in the Dominican Republic involved with production of sugar, and the efforts of a Spanish priest to make their lives and work situation better.
As I said, it is insightful and informative from start to finish, but even though the lives of the workers are unimaginable, the film failed to connect with me emotionally.
I watched it, it was over. Usually I feel one way or another after a documentary ends.
With this one, I felt nothing...well, I thought of Paul Newman, and wished he was still alive and well...but I am I will think that for a while.
He was a true conematic icon who will be missed.
The documentary THE PRICE OF SUGAR with narration from Mr. Paul Newman, the DELUXE EDITION of Mr. Newman's classic COOL HAND LUKE, Best Foreign Language Film Oscar Nominee MONGOL from Kazakhstan, the 50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION of Orson Welles classic film TOUCH OF EVIL and the wannabe provocative but isn't even worth your time Canadian film YOUNG PEOPLE HUGGING are all available now on DVD.
Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report
UP THE YANGTZE is a 2007 documentary film directed by Chinese-Canadian director Yung Chang. The film focuses on people affected by the building of the Three Gorges Dam across the Yangtze river in Hubei, China.
And to get you ready for Halloween: I will tell you about new versions of three classic Alfred Hitchcock films, PSYCHO, VERTIGO and REAR WINDOW; an dthe new terror filled release THE STRANGERS.
I'm Dan Reynish. I'll have more on those, and some other releases, in seven days.
For now, that's this week's COUCH POTATO REPORT.
Enjoy the movies and I'll see you back here next time on The Couch!
'Passchendaele' a labour of love
Paul Gross does not quit – and no, this isn’t a reference to how he parlayed small screen stardom on the ‘90s sleeper, “Due South,” into leading man status in the 2002 romantic comedy “Men With Brooms” through sheer grit.
It’s a testimonial to how he ambitiously wove the graphic First World War stories his maternal grandfather, veteran Michael Dunne, told him about life in the trenches at Passchendaele, Belgium, into an epic, feature-length film.
“It’s not Rambo or John Wayne, but it’s our heroism,” Gross, 49, said in an interview days after the $20-million “Passchendaele” opened the Toronto International Film Festival. “And I worry about us forgetting that history of the First World War, because the very definition of what it means to be Canadian was fought for in the slaughter yards of the Western front.”
A stark contrast to the country’s current role in Afghanistan, the Battle of Passchendaele saw Canadian troops waging a bloody 12-day campaign against German troops in a Belgian village. Tens of thousands were killed and the success of the victory was limited – the Germans eventually regained control of the territory. But the victory forged the idea that Canadian soldiers were something to fear.
“We are very definitely peacekeepers; we more or less invented it,” said the writer, director and star. “But we’re also warriors and we need to know we’re both these things. To suggest that we simply just run around keeping the peace is not accurate historically.”
But to give the battle the big screen treatment, Gross quickly found that the country’s meager film subsidies needed to be topped up by some deep-pocketed millionaires.
“We did begin to set it up as a UK-Canada co-production, but that proved to be too complicated. To do it that way, they wanted the main character, the one that I play (Michael Dunne, named after his grandfather), to be British.”
Admittedly intrigued by the idea of fast-tracking the film into development, Gross ultimately nixed telling his story this way. “I wanted to make a film that was about us; not some hybrid story.”
So he abandoned the co-production route and was then faced with a problem: How do you raise $20 million domestically?
“You pretty much have to kill somebody,” he laughed.
After seven years, Gross cobbled together money from both public and private sources, with the Alberta government coughing up over $5 million from a centennial legacy fund.
“Thank God for Ralph Klein,” Gross said. “The first big stake came from Ralph Klein and the Alberta government. Without that, it would have been very hard to convince the private sector to fund this.
“I’m not saying we need to make $50 million movies every day, but some stories,” he said, pausing, “cost a little bit more to tell.”
Money in hand, Gross began shooting the film on an aboriginal reserve outside Calgary last year. Of course seduced by big-budgeted American war movies, he may have been influenced by Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan,” but it was the conversations with his grandfather that dictated how he would shoot it.
“I remember asking him, ‘What did you know of the war? What was your war?’ And my grandfather replied, ‘My war was 25 yards on either side of me.’ So, the protocol for filming was; we’d only shoot those things that a soldier in a battlefield could arguably see.
“The immediacy of the combat scenes,” he continued, referring to a sequence when his character jabs a knife into a German soldier’s head, “had to be effective.”
Recounting Canada’s heroism in the fall of 1917 also forced Gross to take a hard look at our current military involvement in Afghanistan.
“I started writing this when the Russians were still in Afghanistan,” he said. “So, I didn’t think of it in terms of contemporary relevance. It became that way when we were shooting because many of the extras in our film were actual soldiers who are in Afghanistan now.
“It’s very hard on a film set to not get sucked into the Peter Pan-y, make-believe world of it. But having soldiers with us, who were about to go into battle, made us realize the importance of the story we were telling.
“I’m not sure this will change the debate, but it’s been interesting to me to follow the robust public discourse about our role in Afghanistan. And I think ultimately, no matter what your view, you can support our soldiers and honour what it is they’re doing whether you agree with the nature of the mission they are on or not.”
“Passchendaele” opens across Canada today.
Film Franchise to Be 'Bourne' Again
It seems "The Bourne Ultimatum" wasn't so ultimate after all.
Universal is planning yet another installment of the Jason Bourne spy franchise, choosing George Nolfi to write the script, report the trades.
Matt Damon, who starred in the previous three films, is attached to star in the fourth.
Nolfi helped adapt "Ultimatum", which earned $442 million at the worldwide box office. Although the first three films were based on Robert Ludlum's books, the new film will be based on an original story.
Author Eric Van Lustbader, with the permission of the Ludlum estate, has written four other novels in the series.
Four Tops frontman Levi Stubbs dead at 72
DETROIT – Four Tops frontman Levi Stubbs, whose dynamic and emotive voice drove such Motown classics as "Reach Out (I'll Be There)" and "Baby I Need Your Loving," died Friday at 72.
He had been ill recently and died in his sleep at the Detroit house he shared with his wife of 48 years, said Dana Meah, the wife of a grandson. The Wayne County medical examiner's office also confirmed the death.
With Stubbs in the lead, the Four Tops sold millions of records and performed for more than four decades without a change in personnel.
"Levi Stubbs was one of the great voices of all times," former Motown labelmate Smokey Robinson said. "He was very near and dear to my heart. He was my friend and my brother, I miss him. God bless his family and comfort them."
The Four Tops began singing together in 1953 under the name the Four Aims and signed a deal with Chess Records. They later changed their names to the Four Tops to avoid being confused with the Ames Brothers.
They also recorded for Red Top, Riverside and Columbia Records and toured supper clubs.
The Four Tops signed with Motown Records in 1963 and produced 20 Top-40 hits over the next 10 years, making music history with the other acts in Berry Gordy's Motown stable.
"It is not only a tremendous personal loss for me, but for the Motown family, and people all over the world who were touched by his rare voice and remarkable spirit," Gordy said Friday. "Levi was the greatest interpreter of songs I've ever heard."
When he and others at Motown first heard "Baby I Need Your Loving," Gordy remembered: "Levi's voice exploded in the room and went straight for our hearts. We all knew it was a hit, hands down."
Their biggest hits were recorded between 1964 and 1967 with the in-house songwriting and production team of Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland. Both 1965's "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)" and 1966's "Reach Out" went to No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart.
Other hits included "Shake Me, Wake Me" (1966), "Bernadette" and "Standing in the Shadows of Love" (both 1967).
The acclaimed documentary film "Standing in the Shadows of Motown," which took its name from the Four Tops song, was released in 2002 and focused on the Funk Brothers, the talented but unheralded musicians who played backup on many Motown recordings.
While Stubbs didn't play a direct role in the film's production, director Paul Justman spoke Friday of the singer's immense talent.
"He was a tremendous artist," Justman said.
Stubbs "fits right up there with all the icons of Motown," said Audley Smith, chief operating officer of the Motown Historical Museum. "His voice was as unique as Marvin's or as Smokey's or as Stevie's."
Gladys Knight remembered Stubbs as an immensely talented and kind man whom she had known since the 1950s. "We were family," she said. "Have you ever heard a voice that sounded like his? It was emotional. It was crisp, with energy and an edge."
She said he was as good a person as he was a performer. "He was amazing, very unassuming," Knight said. "Very humble. So many artists don't like to share. He would hand you the mike in a minute."
The Four Tops toured for decades after their heyday and reached the charts as late as 1988 with "Indestructible" on Arista Records. In 1986, Stubbs provided the voice for Audrey II the man-eating plant in the film "Little Shop of Horrors."
The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Stubbs' death leaves one surviving member of the original group: Abdul "Duke" Fakir. Original Top Lawrence Payton died of liver cancer in 1997. Renaldo "Obie" Benson died of lung cancer in 2005.
Stubbs hadn't done much performing in recent years because of his declining health, but was known to step up on stage from time to time when a Motown touring production came through Detroit.
He was born in 1936 and grew up in Detroit, where he sang with Fakir. They met fellow Payton and Benson while singing at a mutual friend's birthday party, then decided to form a group.
Stubbs is survived by his wife Cliniece, five children and 11 grandchildren.